TORONTO—A few quick thoughts from the Boston Bruins’ 5-2 Game 3 over the Toronto Maple Leafs to take a 2-1 series lead. The game was Toronto’s first home playoff game since 2004.

The Mullet

With no points in the 2013 playoffs heading into Game 3, Jaromir Jagr turned back the clock and put on a vintage performance. Jagr was basically a Swiss bank account with the puck in Game 3, as his line outshot the Maple Leafs five to one in the first period, while also attempting eleven shots to Toronto’s one in five minutes of even-strength ice-time.

Early in the second frame, Jagr dominated possession on a shift on which Leafs defenseman Ryan O’Byrne ended up taking a penalty. Jagr victimized O’Byrne again just a few minutes later, forcing a turnover behind Toronto’s net and feeding linemate Rich Peverley for a gimme to put the Bruins up 2-0. In the third period, Jagr continued to abuse the Leafs’ third defensive pairing with his physical play and ability to shield the puck with his posterior down low.

In 14:53 of icetime, Jagr finished with six shots on goal.

The Goaltenders

In Game 2, James Reimer was just a little bit better than Tuukka Rask, and it made all the difference in a hard-fought, extremely even game. In Game 3, the script was flipped as Rask stole the show and the second period in particular as he powered the Bruins to a 2-1 series lead.

According to Cam Charron’s scoring chance count, the Leafs challenged Rask with fourteen difficult shots in Game 3, and the Bruins keeper got himself in front of twelve of those pucks. In the third period, with the Leafs completely controlling play, Rask’s play was stellar and preserved the victory for Boston.

Reimer, in contrast, was marginally the busier goaltender on Monday but he was also the less successful keeper. Reimer faced eleven difficult shots through forty minutes and stopped eight of them. Adam McQuaid, on the game’s opening goal, also beat him on a non-scoring chance shot. It wasn’t an awful game by any stretch for the Leafs starting netminder but it wasn’t good enough to get the job done.

Milan Lucic Bounces Back

Milan Lucic, who was rumored to be out of shape, relatively unproductive by his standards, and a healthy scratch down the stretch for the Bruins this season, had himself a game on Monday night.

Beyond doing some of what’s expected of him in the postseason, such as when he absolutely hammered Joffrey Lupul early in the second period, Lucic made plenty of offensive action happen.

Lucic set up a Nathan Horton goal with a pretty backhand saucer pass and drove play all evening. In Game 2, most of Toronto’s damage was done against the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line. In Game 3, Lucic was a big part of ensuring that group didn’t have a repeat performance and was essential in turning the tide the other way with three assists.

Drop the Puck!

On Saturday night in his regular "Coach's Corner" rant, Don Cherry—the controversial plaid-blazered nationalist—accused NHL linesmen of wanting to be the starsand holding up draws with excessive regulation.

In Game 3, the CBC-loving Toronto crowd was all over Don Henderson and Shane Heyer for any dithering before they dropped the puck. Basically any time a centermen was kicked out of the circle, be it a Leafs or Bruins player, the crowd made sure their dissatisfaction was registered.

Just a fun reminder that for casual Canadian hockey fans, Cherry’s comments still appear to carry weight.

Julien’s zone matching

The Bruins generally aren’t a team that looks to zone-match obsessively—or at least they weren’t this past season. But that changed in Game 3—and in a big way. 

Zone matching is a term that refers to the tactic of specializing a team’s deployment patterns on the road to try and neuter the home side's last-change advantage. If the draw takes place in the offensive end, a certain line takes the bulk of those draws. If the draw takes place in the defensive end, a different line is given that responsibility.

In Game 3, Claude Julien used a specialized defensive-zone draw unit that included Patrice Bergeron and often Chris Kelly. Bergeron was on the ice for fourteen of Boston’s twenty-four defensive zone draws in the contest while the Lucic-Krejci-Horton line soaked up offensive zone starts. They capitalized on their favorable deployment.

Carlyle and Julien aren't usually regarded as progressive head coaches, but this series has turned into a rather interesting chess match. In Game 2, Carlyle disguised his matchups in an effort to free Phil Kessel from Zdeno Chara. In Game 3, Julien zone-matched aggressively to counter Carlyle’s matchup obsession. In both cases, the adjustments made by the respective bench bosses were fascinating and effective.